Artwork
The Fortune Teller
The Fortune Teller is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Jan Steen. It dates from 1650 and is held in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
Jan Steen’s oil work, dated around 1650, depicts a modest outdoor gathering centered on a woman in a brown robe. She sits on the ground, holding a small object, while several onlookers turn their attention toward her. The composition is framed by distant trees and a building, rendered in subdued, earth‑tone hues that lend the scene a tranquil atmosphere.
Subject & Meaning
The focal figure appears to be a fortune‑teller, suggested by the object she holds and the attentive posture of the surrounding figures. Their quiet anticipation implies a moment of revelation or counsel, reflecting the Dutch genre tradition of portraying everyday social interactions that hint at moral or humorous undertones.
Technique & Style
Executed in oil on canvas, Steen employs a restrained palette of browns, ochres, and muted greens, creating a cohesive visual tone. The brushwork balances fine detail—such as the folds of the woman’s robe—with broader, atmospheric treatment of the background, characteristic of mid‑seventeenth‑century Dutch genre painting.
History & Provenance
Created circa 1650, the painting entered the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it remains on display. Its acquisition history reflects the museum’s broader effort to represent Dutch Golden Age works within its European holdings.
Context
During the mid‑1600s, Dutch artists frequently depicted domestic and communal scenes that offered commentary on social customs. Steen, known for his lively genre scenes, situates this modest encounter within that tradition, using a public setting to explore themes of curiosity and the exchange of knowledge.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Jan Havickszoon Steen was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century.
Paintings of physicians by Jan Steen
The Dissolute Household
Merry Company on a Terrace
Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman
Interior of an inn with an old man amusing himself with the landlady and two men playing backgammon, known as 'Two kinds of games'
The Drunken Couple
The Happy Family
Bathsheba after the Bath
Farmyard
Travellers Halting at an Inn
Country inn with a horse at the trough
Travellers Halting at an Inn
The country road
In front of the inn (Country scene with a hunting party)
Country inn with horse and wagon
A Farmyard
Swedish Landscape with a Water Mill
Country inn with a horse at the trough
Swedish landscape with a watermill
Italian landscape with antique ruins and herders